English OCD

Yesterday yet another beautiful thing happened – I was asked by one of the eucharist Ministers to join English OCD group in our church which happens on every Wednesday. Since I can never ever say NO to the Lord, I immediately agreed and gave my YES without knowing what this English OCD group is all about. Now upon my research on OCD, I came to know that it’s actually the full form for Discalced Carmelites, or the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. They are the members of Catholic religious order that follow on from the tradition of the Old Testament prophets and the early Christian hermits. The name of the Order is taken from the biblical Mount Carmel in Palestine, where the first brothers established themselves during the time of the crusades so as to live a life of obedience to Jesus Christ. They took their inspiration from the Old Testament prophet Elijah and the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, to whom their first church, and later the whole Carmelite Order, was dedicated. The Order was founded in 1593.

Another Eucharistic Minister, who is a part of the English OCD, told me that there will be some meditative prayers and sanctifying hours to be observed like the priests and nuns and we will have to put time and energy into it. In fact, this is what makes Carmelite prayer distinctive. It’s not the prayer itself – there is no ‘method’ for Carmelite prayer. It is all about the time and energy that is actually put into prayer. Obviously, I am much too excited as meditative prayers are what I had been wanting since last year.

Pope Benedict has said: “Carmel teaches the Church how to pray”. That’s what Carmel has always been about: prayer. And that’s what being a Carmelite – whether friar, nun, or Lay Carmelite – is all about: prayer. It’s not method; it’s emphasis. All our parish priests and brothers are Carmelites and believe a lot in prayers.

The charism (or spiritual focus) of the Carmelite Order is contemplative prayer. Till this research, I had absolutely no clue what it was all about but like I wrote earlier, I was extremely excited the moment I was told to join as I felt that the Lord was calling and drawing me unto Him in yet another way. Right now, everything is vague but I am sure, once I participate in the initial few prayer meetings, the clarity will automatically don upon me. So, waiting for Wednesday, 16th January, 2013!

I am so happy that at last I will get Carmelite spirituality in me and be able to practice mental prayers. All along last year I had been seeking to hear God in the quiet of my heart through contemplation and meditative prayer. And now I also truly understand the meaning of the parable of the mustard seed which Jesus Christ told His disciples. He had said that if you have faith as small as the mustard seed, it will grow into a big mustard tree – can anything be truer than this – when I had started in 2010, I had the faith of a mustard seed – now it has grown into a big tree because I have continuously walked with Jesus in my faith journey and He has been working upon my faith unceasingly.